Local

The Illinois Department on Aging says it can handle an expected increase in hotline calls about alleged abuse of disabled adults living at home.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports a new law transferred the responsibility for the calls from the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Human Services to the Department on Aging.

John Holton is director of the Department on Aging. He says trained caseworkers in a network of more than 40 nonprofit agencies will handle the increased workload.

The switch was prompted by a News-Democrat investigation last year. The newspaper revealed that many cases where people died suspiciously weren’t being investigated. The office was interpreting state law as barring it from investigating deaths because “the dead are ineligible for services.”